"For I have not shunned to declare unto you the full counsel of God."
Acts 20:27
An Exhortation to Holy Living and a Godly Lifestyle:

I have discovered after almost fifty-seven years of life on this planet and after thirty-seven years of new life in Christ that what the Church, including myself, needs to understand above everything else is what the Apostle Paul called “the full counsel of God.” The following is a brief synopsis of my understanding on that subject, but it is by no means an all-inclusive exposition of what the Bible teaches.


The full counsel of God reveals what God has done in the past for the human race through Christ’s passion in His death, burial, and resurrection in order to save us from our sins. It also reveals what God is doing in the present through the Holy Spirit’s work in the earth to bring sinners to Christ, as well as what He is doing presently in the hearts of Christian believers in reminding us of, and relaying Christ’s words to us in order to bring us to spiritual maturity in Christ.


[Author’s Note: The entire New Testament reveals the above truth to one degree or another, and a large portion of the Old Testament points us to it, and yet a compact and concise example of this can be found in the first half of the book of Ephesians. (Ephesians, chapters 1-3) Please take a few moments and prayerfully read these chapters now on your own.]


The full counsel of God also reveals what God will do in the future at the end of the Great Tribulation period at Christ’s second coming and the first out resurrection of the dead and living in Christ from the earth.


[Author’s Note: Presently, the spirits of those who have died in Christ are in Paradise enjoying eternal life with Jesus as disembodied human spirits (Luke 23:43 & 2 Corinthians 5:8) as they await the first out resurrection of the dead.]


At a time in the future, Christian believers will be raised up to meet Christ and his angels coming from Heaven in the skies over Jerusalem. (Matthew 16:27)---At that moment in time they will receive immortal and incorruptible bodies. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)---Christ will rest His feet upon the Mount of Olives causing a great earthquake. (Zechariah 14:4)---Christ will fight and defeat the anti-Christ and False Prophet at the battle of Armageddon and cast them into the Lake of Fire. (Revelations 19:20)---He will have Satan bound and cast into “a bottomless pit” for a thousand years. --- (Revelations 20:1-3) Christian believers will be judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the things done in their bodies, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10) and be given rewards and suffer loss according to what they have done. The consuming fire of God will test each person’s works. (1 Corinthians 10-14) Those who have not done the will of God, (God’s will for the justified believer is their sanctification, so that they might be glorified) even though some claim to acknowledge Jesus, calling Him Lord, Lord, and testify of having done great works (including charismatic works) in His name, they will still be rejected by Christ. (Matthew 7:22-24) Only those that Jesus recognizes as good and faithful servants will enter into His joy, (Matthew 25:23) in other words, he who overcomes self, Satan, and sin, by an appropriation of God’s grace through faith. (Revelations 3:21)


[Authors note: What will prove to be profitable for Christian believers when judged by Christ, will be whether or not Christ-like love for God the Father, and for their fellow man is found to have been active and alive in their lives. (1 Corinthians 13) --- This is the righteous requirement of God’s law that was fulfilled by Christ, and is also fulfilled in the Christian believers, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.]


Christian believers names must be found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life for them to escape the second death, which is Hell and the Lake of Fire. (Revelations 3:5) Christ will establish His millennial reign with His resurrected saints and faithful martyrs on the earth. (Revelations 20: 4)---After a thousand years of peace on earth, Satan will be loosed and lead a final rebellion against Christ and His saints. He will be quickly defeated by Christ and cast into the Lake of Fire. --- (Revelations 20:7-10) There will be a second out resurrection of the dead from Hades at which time the unredeemed sinners will receive immortal bodies. (Revelations 20:13)---All unbelievers will be judged by Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment for what they have done in their bodies and for having rejected Christ, and they will be cast into the Lake of Fire. (Revelations 21:8) ---This old earth will be destroyed by fire and a new heaven and new earth will be created. (2 Peter 3:10-13)---The New Jerusalem, the Holy City of God, will descend from Heaven and rest upon the new earth wherein dwells righteousness. (Revelations 21:1-7)


The full counsel of God reveals what all sinners and Christian believers can and must do now in response to what God has done, is doing, and will do in saving us from our sins. Sinners must repent and believe the good news. After this they must be baptized in water in the name of the Lord, and receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues in order for their initiation in Christ to be completed. (Hebrew 6: 1-3, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 8:14-17, Acts 10:44-48, Acts 19:1-7) Next, Christian believers must make every effort to add to their faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. (2 Peter 1:5-11)


[Authors Note: As Ephesians, chapters 1-3 is a good compact example of what Christ has accomplished for Christian believers, so Ephesians, chapters 3-6 is a good compact example of what Christian believers must do in regards to what Christ has done on their behalf, and in their stead. Please take a few moments and prayerfully read these chapters now on your own.]


The full counsel of God reveals that there are eternal rewards for those individuals who respond appropriately to what God has done, is doing, and will do in saving them from their sins. Jesus declared, “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." (Revelations 2:26-28 & 3:21) It also reveals that there are eternal judgments for those individuals who respond inappropriately to what God has done, is doing, and will do in saving them from their sins. “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars---their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelations 21:8) --- Also see (Galatians 5:15-26 & 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)


The full counsel of God reveals that divine mercy is available to every individual sinner or backslider who chooses to respond appropriately to what God has done, is doing, and will do in saving them from their sins, by confessing all of their known sins to God and forsaking them. (Proverbs 28:13) This is true for all human beings who are granted repentance from their sins and exercise faith towards God, to the point of amending their wicked ways, even after a lifetime of inappropriate responses to the grace of God. Christ stands at the door of our hearts and knocks. If anyone hears, and opens their heart to Him, He will come in and eat with them, and they with Him. (Revelation 3:20) This implies relationship, fellowship, familiarity, and intimacy. This message was addressed to backsliding Christians, even though it is also applicable to sinners. God commands all souls to repent and believe the gospel, and He has, and will continue to grant all souls the opportunity and capacity do so, until the end comes. (Mark 1:15, Acts 2:38, Matthew 24:14, Acts 5:31, Act: 11:18, Acts 17:30, Acts 20:21) The only exceptions to this rule are the reprobate and/or apostates, because it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. (Hebrews 6:6)


The full counsel of God reveals that both sinners and Christian backsliders who are granted repentance from all of their known sins, are those who are so influenced by the conviction of the Spirit of grace, that they begin to seek a change in their character from a carnal state of being (behaving) to a spiritual state of being (behaving). They do this and are to continue doing this with their whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. They will not and must not relent in their desire and pursuit of holiness until the divine grace to be transformed is granted unto them in abundance from on High. (2 Timothy 2:25 & Revelation 2:5,16,21,22, 3:3,19, 2 Corinthians 7: 9 & 10)


[Authors note: For those poor backsliding souls who want to repent of all their known sins, but don’t seem to be able to, please know this: God’s desire is to grant you repentance even more than you desire it, therefore keep asking, seeking, and knocking, and it will be granted unto you. (Matthew 5:3, Luke 11:9, Luke 18:1) Also, know this: the kind of transformation mentioned here is only possible by remaining filled with the Holy Spirit and through the discipline of watchfulness and prayerfulness. One must stay awake and draw near to God, lest they fall into temptation, because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41) ]


The full counsel of God reveals that once backsliders are granted repentance from all of their known sins in the manner stated above, it is possible for their hearts to be so filled with gratitude towards God, that the remainder of their lives on earth are lived in the pursuit, perfecting, and maintaining of holiness in reverence of God. Among other things, this means the avoidance of all known, deliberate, highhanded, willful, and habitual sins against God, their fellow human beings, and their own bodies. (Luke 7:47)


[Authors note: For Christian believers who do stumble and fall into temptation and commit various sins of the flesh due to infirmities of the body, human compulsions and impulses, and/or demonic strongholds operating in their minds that are more often than not brought about by generational curses, there is forgiveness and deliverance available to them through the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon their human conscience and the confession and forsaking of their sins to God. (1 John 1:9)]


Finally, the full council of God reveals that nothing, or no one, that causes offense will be allowed into the Holy City of God or upon the new earth wherein dwells righteousness. My brothers and sisters, now is the time when all offenses and sinful traits in human character and behavior need to be dealt with, confessed, forsaken, and overcome in order to inherit the kingdom of God and avoid the Lake of Fire. God has provided all grace available in order to do this. It is the responsibility of all human beings to repent and believe the gospel, be baptized in water in the name of Jesus, and receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is time for all Christian believers to work with God and not against Him in this great salvation by appropriating His transforming and overcoming grace through faith. I pray that all who read this document will determine in their hearts to do so. May all believe in Christ, and settle down into Him, and be not removed from Him. May God bless all of us in our effort and enthusiasm to do His will and live holy lives and godly lifestyles. May we all fall on the Stone and be broken before Him for our sins. May we all be granted repentance, and faith towards God. May we all be renewed, restored, revived, and sanctified in our spirits, souls, and bodies, unto the coming of the Lord. “Faithful is He who calls you who will also do it.” But remember, He will do it in us, to us, and through us, but not without us. Our cooperation is necessary. Philippians (2:11-13) Therefore, I will leave you with a final encouragement and warning, “Whoever shall fall on the Stone will be broken; but on whomever it shall fall, it will ground him to powder.” (Matthew 21:44)